Better
by late-stranger
Summary: Gregory House has always been obsessed with the truth. That's why everyone, somewhere deep in their soul, wants to be like him. It's what makes him the very thing we wish to be: Fearless. Oneshot character study on why House is who he is


_**Better**_

Gregory House was different that most people. He never thought of love as a wonderful thing. He never received the benefits of love as a child. He never was protected, or felt remotely comforted by his father. His mother loved him, but she always sounded fake when she said so. So sugary, so sweet, but she never seemed to be around when dad started to hurt him again. Little Gregory House liked his mother, obviously, but he never truly loved her. It was because she sounded so fake; that was why. It was because he never heard the truth in her words.

That was what fascinated Gregory House: the truth. He always, always knew when someone was lying. He knew when they were telling the truth. He could even tell when they were telling their own truth – what was truth to them, but not accurate. He knew these things, and he always, always spoke the truth. He didn't see any benefit in love; he didn't see any benefit in lying. So he told the truth.

Lots of people – not just his dad – didn't like it when he told the truth. They would yell at him, sometimes hit him. But he never saw any benefit in the love of others – especially strangers, so he didn't care. He went right on being completely honest.

Gregory House, by the time he was filling out college applications, was obsessed with the truth. He craved it, he mercilessly told it. He spoke what was on everyone's mind; the words everyone thought but never spoke themselves. He could 'read' people, or so they said. That, he knew, was the truth.

Gregory House became a diagnostician; he sought the truth about patients. And he kept on telling the truth. But when you're an adult, in a 'respectable' occupation, you're expected to lie through your teeth and kiss ass and be nice. But Gregory House never saw the benefit of the love of strangers, so he told the truth. But now, he saw the benefit of lying. If he lied, he could get what he wanted, what he needed, a lot easier. So he lied. But he never lied for any reason other than himself.

James Wilson only changed him a little. James Wilson respected the way he told the truth, and stuck with him even when the truth hurt. The truth always hurt. House would tell Wilson that he would marry his current girlfriend, but divorce within the year. And that was exactly what would happen. Gregory House saw how love hurt James Wilson, and continued to be mystified as to the benefits of the emotion. The tiny way that James Wilson changed Gregory House was in his lying policy – House would lie for himself, and he would lie for Wilson. That was it.

Gregory House was obsessed with the truth; that was the long and short of it. That was his reason behind everything; he had to find what was real. There was something about his endless quest for fact that changed the people he worked with. Something that they started to respect, to envy, even. That changed them, and made them not entirely like House, because no one without his experiences could be him, but enough that they were willing to do whatever it took, convention be damned, to find the truth.

People could run from that, or fight it, but they would never be the same after a stint with Gregory House, because as rude and hated as he is, Gregory House is what most people wish they were: fearless.

And the little bit of Gregory House that people acquire; that little quirk, or that brash disregard for society; whatever they got from him, they couldn't give it up. It was what they really wanted.

No one changed Gregory House, though they tried, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. No one could change Gregory House, and no onecould not be changed by Gregory House.

He was fearless, dauntless, undeniably brilliant.

He just wasn't what our society expected.

He was better.

* * *

So... love it? Hate it? Did I get House right? I think I did, but that's me. This is my opinion; I _wish _I could be like House (fearless, like he is, anyways). I think, if I get this one right, I'll try to do little studies on the other facets of his personality too. It's the reason I watch the show, predominately. I'm trying to figure him out. Feedback would be wonderful.


End file.
